"Mrs. Wendell told me that you might need...an escort. But only because you're new here, and I can assume you don't know where all of your classes are. Do you though?" The teacher started to say. For someone who sounded official, he sure didn't look like it in Kiwi's opinion. She knew him as that boring math teacher that was always the butt of everyone's jokes. He was somewhat dull, which definitely added to his scrawny arms and legs. Kiwi would bet anything that he was going to have some teacher that no body even liked escort her to her classes.
"Not really..." Cora had realized that she had no clue where Gymnasium was. Actually, she didn't even know where any of her classes were except for English. Maybe Kiwi could be an 'escort.'
"Alright, I'll let you decide who it is, though I'll recommend that you'll need someone who knows a lot about this school. Someone who knows just about everyone here, or at least someone who knows about most of our extracurricular activities such as sports, Drama, WhoChess..." As Cora listened to what he was saying, Kiwi was staring to grow in excitement. She knew she was perfect for the job. She knew just about everything about everyone. The 'pops,' the 'normals,' the 'quiet ones,' and she was only in her freshman year like Cora! She could name every single after school activity there was and who was in them. With every after school activity he was naming, her heart would start pumping faster and faster.
"The Junior Who Poet's Society, the school Whospaper-"
"Excuse me Mr. Wally, but I think that Cora would LOVE it if I were her escort. Like, we've become BFFs here in only one class! Haven't we?" Kiwi said while trying to act cheerily polite to impress the nerdy-looking teacher. Kiwi put her left arm around Cora as if they were "good old buddies," though Cora was a little confused.
"It's Oswald Ms. McKraken, not Wally. And even if you pronounced my name right, you still have that D- in Algebra that you might want to bring up after school."
"What!? But-but-I can't stay after school for that! I have to hand in an article for the school Whospapper!" Kiwi unwrapped her arm from around Cora's neck after hearing about the D-.
"I'm sorry Kiwi, but unless you bring up that grade to at least a C, you're not going to escort Cora, let alone write an article for the school Whospapper." Mr. Oswald told her firmly.
"Alright..." Kiwi said with disappointment. With her head hung low, she moped to her locker while mumbling hints of sailor talk and frustration.
"Anyway, would you like to choose to be your escort?" Mr. Oswald asked Cora.
"Um, you choose." Cora replied while she gazed at the dirty tiled floor. She knew that no one besides Kiwi would want to 'escort' her throughout the school day.
Mr. Oswald scanned the school hallway with magnified eyes, squinting. There were so many kids that he could just pick randomly out of nowhere. The question however was who he should pick. He knew by experience that not everyone here was the cream of the crop. He also knew that there had been problems with cliques throughout the past few years. They seemed so tight in WhoVille High that not even scissors could cut them free from the irritating status quo. The only Who here however, who probably didn't even want anything to do with it, was Jojo. The only problem was that he wasn't much of a talker. It's usually either a nod, a head shake, shrug or a facial expression when it comes from him. Mr. Oswald was thinking that it maybe would be nice if Jojo met someone new for once, but would Coralina easily get along with his silent ways? Would she get annoyed or make fun of him for it like some of the other Whos do? Would they just ignore each other for the first few weeks of Cora's recent appearance? Out of inpatients, Mr. Oswald finally ended his mental battle with deciding who was going to be Cora's 'escort.'
"I'll pick....Jojo!" he exclaimed to her. From diagonally across the hallway from Cora's locker, Jojo rotated his head to Mr. Oswald's direction. Huh? He thought with a somewhat confused look. He'd sworn he heard his math teacher say his name, but why was he with Cora? Jojo grabbed his planner that had his schedule tucked in one of the pages, closed and locked his locker thoroughly just in case some idiot would decide to jam his locker with a piece of ABC gum, slung his two ton dark gray backpack over his small right shoulder and curiously yet nervously walked over to the new student and teacher; he still wasn't sure if Mr. Oswald really said his name or not. Mr. Oswald turned around as if he was going to get something, or someone, but right then he saw Jojo slowly walking towards his direction with uncertainty; an exited look came across the teacher's face.
"Jojo! I was just about to send you here," Mr. Oswald started as he scooted him with his arm to face Cora who was more than three feet away from him. Jojo glanced at Cora, and then gave a very confused look at the teacher. He still didn't know the first thing about what was going on.
"Oh yes, I was just about to ask you if YOU could be...be...um, Cora's escort? You know, maybe someone who could, I don't know, show her where her classes are, maybe introduce her to other students, tell her about our extra curricular activities, and, well, other things. Like a mentor, except you're, the same, age..." The teacher's voice grew small as he ended the sentence. He seemed nervous unlike when he confronted Cora for the first time. It was almost as if he was afraid that Jojo was going to give him some sort of hard stare and refuse. Jojo was starting to think about the sudden favor. He didn't really mind doing it in his opinion, nor did it really matter to him whether or not he'd accept it. He made another quick look at Cora, but it turned out that she was doing the same thing. With a small blush and embarrassed look, she turned her head away and lowered her head. He assumed that she was probably still thinking about the stuttering incident. He did have to admit, he still felt bad for her, but was that really another reason to help her find her classes? Because of pity? Jojo made a shrug though was still a little bit unsure if he should or not.
"That's great!" Mr. Oswald explained while taking Jojo's unsure shrug as a yes. He then grabbed Jojo's planner from his hand, replaced his schedule with a new one, and handed it right back to Jojo.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I changed you're schedule so you can be in Cora's classes, but don't worry. This will only last until she's gotten used to here. Did I mention that your locker location will have to change too? Don't worry; it's just across your current one. It's Right next to Cora's!" Mr. Oswald explained. He made a hand gesture to a white painted locker next to her Cora's. He knew about the phony superstitions of 'Lover's Locker.' There were a million other superstitions at WhoVille High, from the Bus 13 Curse to the pointless rumor that the green eggs and ham served at school was radio active. Jojo had the feeling that Mr. Oswald was going to forget about the schedule/locker change, and because more than 50% of everyone here basically believes in almost every superstition around here, he'll probably be made fun of even more than usual. Not that he'd care; it's been like that for two years at the least, and the Horton incident has only made him popular in places aside from WhoVille High.
"Jojo, I'm glad you decided to do this, I bet your father would be very proud of you." Mr. Oswald beamed a warm smile at the black and gray Who, which in return slumped his head down in a slightly sad gaze while hoping that his hint of sadness wasn't so obvious. Cora however, could see that Jojo didn't look very proud at all. It made her wonder, but her thoughts were cut off be Mr. Oswald again.
"Well, I have to go to a meeting right now, so I expect for both of you get ready for class. And remember; don't believe in any of those silly rumors. Nothing's going to happen." Mr. Oswald started to walk away to his meeting while both Whos, who've only really known each other for less than a minute, were left to watch. At the same time, they exchanged glances; Cora, with more of a nervous look, and Jojo, with a small look of curiosity.
"Um, hi..." Cora's voice said in silence. Like the stuttering incident, her legs started shaking except to a lesser extent. Jojo just raised a small hand as if to say 'hi' back. For a few minutes, they just stood there in an awkward silence, until Cora said,
"I guess we should get ready for GYM..." Jojo nodded slowly in return, and they slowly parted to their lockers with uncertainty.
In the back of Cora's mind, she was pestering herself mentally for not even getting to know her black and gray acquaintance Jojo, the one who didn't even make a chuckle when she made her embarrassing introduction in front of her whole entire English class. The one, quiet Who that was apparently the mayor's son. There was a lot she didn't know about him besides the fact that he seemed even more quiet than Cora herself. For now though, her mission was to organize her locker a little bit more before she would end up going into the dreaded Gymnasium.
"Don't tell me this is happening. This is horrible! He actually paired you with mayor's son. You've got total bad luck on your side with that locker, but I didn't know it would be that bad!" A panicking horrified whispering voice shrieked in Cora's ear. Cora quickly turned her head towards the voice is sudden surprise; it was Kiwi.
"Kiwi,
this whole curse does not exist. He and I aren't pairing and
nothing is going to happen. Cora admitted to Kiwi in a frustrated
"What!? But I thought that you thought it was true, and- or
maybe- never mind. So you didn't believe me this whole time?"
Kiwi whispered again, loudly that time.
"Yeah..." Cora replied weakly. How did Kiwi just assume off the bat that she actually thought that some old superstition was true? Cora dug out a Spanish textbook from her backpack and tried fitting it into her locker.
"'Kay then, don't believe. Something's going to happen, I just know it." Kiwi whispered disappointingly. She started to walk away from Cora's locker, but after walking at least 5 feet away she darted back.
"But just try not to, you know, talk to him. Well, just talk to him when you're gotta, but other than that no socializing. At all. Nada. Zip. Zero. Nothing. Got it? And trust me; you don't wanna be known as the nice girl who all of a sudden hooks up with the emo guy." Kiwi said as a warning. She then zipped to her locker in a flash. Cora glanced at Jojo, who was finishing his locker clean-up. There was a ridiculously high stack of textbooks, notebooks, books that he had to read at school, and even a few books that he'd end up reading in his spare time like Wharry Potter right next to him. As Cora went back to organizing her locker, she hoped that he didn't hear any of what Kiwi had just said about the whole thing.
After Jojo locked his former locker for the last time, he picked up his high stack of books. He didn't really care that he had to move to another locker, but the only thing he didn't like about being Cora's 'escort' was the schedule change. It took him forever to remember that thing and he still ended up going into the wrong classes a quarter of the time. Though it's not like he can do anything about it, and he was the one that accepted the offer in the first place. It was no time to mentally complain however; he needed to move into that locker, and fast.
Jojo stood in front of his new locker while attempting to edge the tips of his fingers onto the lock. The attempt wasn't successful though, and Cora could easily notice. She stared at the wobbling book stack as he tried opening that locker like 1st grader struggling to tie his shoes. She assumed that the right thing to do was to help out the black and gray who.
"Uh, can I help I help you with-" But before she could finish, Jojo jumped as if startled from the interruption, and that unfortunately caused the column of book to wobble uncontrollably. With Jojo's eyes now fixated on stack of books, he tried lessening it by trying to edge wherever the textbooks would tilt. The only problem was that it only made it worse. This isn't good... Cora thought. She eyed the books along with Jojo he tried to balance the stack unsuccessfully. In seconds, books started to rain down onto the floor while Cora picked them up and even attempted to catch some. There was only a few books in both Whos hands, and the rest were showered all over the floor near their lockers. Knowing that Jojo was obviously upset with this, she came up to him to make an apology.
"I'm so sorry! I wasn't expecting this, I was going to ask you if I could help-"cause Jojo help up him index finger up to his mouth as if to say 'quiet' along with giving her an annoyed look. He then started to pick up the stranded books on his own. Cora sighed and lowered her head with a tinge of feeling bad about what she caused; she hated making people upset, even if it was an accident. She went up to his again, hoping that she would help him with his books to make up for the unneeded accident.
"Can I help you with-" But before she could finished yet another unfinished sentence, Jojo put his index finger over his mouth again, but this time his look was a little less harsh, though still little bit upset from causing his books to topple all over the area. He made a small gesture to some of the books on the floor as if saying yes. He then went back to picking up more books. Cora helped him with picking up the books, still feeling bad about what happened.
Glad that she helped out Jojo and his scattered textbooks, Cora, along with Jojo, went back to their lockers. Jojo, who had to organize his new locker from scratch, was annoyed that his locker arrangement was changed completely just because he had to be Cora's "escort." Not that he cared about the school rumors and superstitions, but was moving the location of his locker really necessary? His locker was formerly diagonally across the hallway in the first place, Mr. Oswald could've just left it as it is. So, why? To prove that the so called "Lover's Locker" rumor was really just a myth? If that's the case then he should've chosen someone who did think it was true, not some one who knew better than to follow silly school superstitions.
Glad that she helped out Jojo with picking up the books, Cora, along with Jojo, went to their suposedly cursed lockers. As Jojo was starting to put his books inside of his new locker, Cora was only left with a book in her hands. Her eyes kept switching glances between the book itself, her pure white locker and her navy blue backpack. She knew that it was important to her, but she didn't know where to put it. At first she levitated the book in front of her locker, but then decided to put it into her backpack. Yet before she could stuff it in with the rest of her binders and textbooks, her eyes darted near her locker again. Would it be safer in a flimsy old backpack or a locked metal compartment? She then hovered the book near the locker, but all of a sudden, she thought about people who'd try to break into her locker somehow, but then there was the other threat of someone stealing her backpack. But then again, she'd be bringing her sketchbook home with her anyway, right? and what if she needed to use it if she didn't have any work in study hall or something? She moved her sketch book near her backpack, only to move in near her locker again, and vise-versa in a repeated pattern.
"What are you doing...?" Startled, Cora turned her head to the side to see where the sudden voice came from. Surprisingly, the direction she turned to was where Jojo was, who was giving her a strange and curious look. Did he just say that? The black and gray Who, who was a good head or two shorter than she was, didn't even say a thing while she was near. So it wasn't a surprise that even she didn't expect Jojo to say anything while being her 'escort.' Cora looked down at her book; it was obvious that he was wondering why she kept putting it near her backpack and locker in a repeated sequence.
"Um, I'm trying to um...I'm t-trying to, uh, I'mnotsurewheretopuit." Cora's voice sped up as she forced herself to say the answer without stuttering again. Her arms started to feel like loose rubber bands again, but at least her legs felt normal for now. The black and gray Who looked at her with a confused look, for he couldn't unravel what she said at the end. Now she had a blush of embarrassment on her face, in which now Jojo could overhear newly pointless boyfriend-girlfriend jokes surrounding the silent whispering that was partially overcome by the hallway. Again, Cora attempted to say her answer.
"Um, I kind of don't know...if I should keep this in my backpack, or my locker." This time she said it with string of success. Jojo peered at the book that she held in her hands, and noticed that it was a sketch book. It triggered something in his mind; was she good at drawing? He gestured to Cora's backpack, where one of its straps was hanging from her left elbow. Her eyes glanced at the backpack as she adjusted it so she could put her book in it. With a weak smile, she said,
"Thanks," A weak smile appeared on Cora's face. With an even smaller smile, Jojo's expression changed just enough so that Cora could tell that he was saying "your welcome." The two Whos continued on with their locker organizing. Once Cora finished, she noticed that it was almost time to go to her least favorite subject; GYM. Jojo still had some work to do with his locker but now it wasn't time handle the small, flea of a problem; there were other problems to worry about for now, like how he can get his dad to get used to the fact that he doesn't want to be mayor, and how to tell the city council about his decision without making a 'WhoVille upset.'
